Tying Up Loose Ends…More Trunk Music

On March 22, 1978, a Long Island, NY waterproofing contractor named Leopold (Leo) Ladenhauf was reported as a missing person by his wife.

Speaking from the family residence, located at 27 Lakeside Avenue in Lake Grove, a quiet residential community on Suffolk County’s north shore, Mrs. June Ladenhauf told police she hadn’t seen or heard from her husband since he left home two days earlier on March 20.

On March 24, Ladenhauf’s wife received an anonymous cryptic telephone phone call advising her that her husband could be found in the “long-term lot.”

On the way to Kennedy Airport.

She immediately called the Suffolk County Police Department, who contacted the NYC Port Authority Police which was in charge of patrolling the city’s airports, asking them to check all the long-term parking lots for Ladenhauf’s automobile.

According to official police reports as well as Lt. Thomas Ahern of the Queens 16th Homicide Squad, Port Authority Police quickly reported back they had indeed found the car in question. It was sitting in Parking Lot #8 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, Queens.

Upon inspecting the vehicle, they discovered a middle-aged male corpse stuffed into the trunk of the car. A quick fingerprint check identified Leonard Ladenhauf as the man in the trunk.

A detective approaches Ladenhauf's body stuffed inside a trunk at Kennedy Airport.

Detectives said that the 42-year-old Ladenhauf, who owned the Mercury Caulking Company, had been shot once in the head. A towel was then wrapped around the gunshot wound to try and prevent excessive blood from dripping onto the floor of the car, and subsequently, onto the pavement. The victim was then wrapped in a tarpaulin and stuffed into the trunk of his own automobile.

A later police forensic autopsy report went on to state the victim had been “brutally killed. His legs and arms had been held behind him...he groveled on his knees begging for his life before he was then shot.”

Mafia Bloodbath

Coincidentally, the month of March 1978, and the months preceding and following it, had become a very tumultuous period for New York’s underworld. Authorities reported that at least 8 mob figures were murdered gangland-style and littered across the streets of New York during that period.

Several mob figures were among those either found murdered or missing, with Ladenhauf having been the eighth body to drop. The most important of these hoodlums was a vicious high-profile Genovese Family caporegime named Pasquale (Paddy Mac) Macchiarole .

Among the other mob casualties were Louis DeAngelis, whose body was found in the Bronx on February 28, and DeAngelis’ son, Ernest, who was thrown off a roof several days later. Other mobsters slaughtered included Anthony Cuomo, who was shot to death in Manhattan on March 22.

Earlier victims included Rubin Gonzalez and Raymond Aponte, who were both found shot in the head several months earlier on December 12. Police identified the two men as garbage racketeers. Also killed was Thomas Palermo, who was found shot to death in the trunk of his car on March 27.

Federal agents soon reported that at least seven of these eight killings had been tied back to Macchiarole and his crew.

Underworld Ties

Six months later, on Tuesday, September 26, Queens County District Attorney John J. Santucci announced murder indictments against three mobbed-up Long Island union figures who were charged with having killed Ladenhauf.

In a subsequent news release, Santucci explained that Ladenhauf had figured into an intricate and sometimes bizarre extortion scheme that involved the attempted takeover of a popular Italian restaurant in Smithtown, Long Island orchestrated by members and associates of the Vito Genovese crime Family.

The three accused men were identified as Michael (Mike) Crimi, who he named as a reputed soldier in the Genovese Family, and two mob associates, Rudolph (Rudy) Callegari and Bruce Kay. All three suspects were charged with first-degree murder. Crimi was additionally charged with first-degree usury and conspiracy.

At their arraignment, State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Dubin held the men without bail until trial. But as the weeks passed defense attorneys made applications to have their clients released. The judge finally agreed and released the defendants on bail ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 each.

Authorities said that Ladenhauf was last seen alive sitting in his car with Kay, Crimi, and Callegari on the morning of March 20, apparently right after they had just left Ranieri’s. The men had reportedly been there to collect a $2,000 shylock payment. While inside the restaurant, police determined that the men had also placed two phone calls from a house phone.

The D.A.’s Office described Crimi as vice president of the International Composition Roofers Union and Welfare Fund and the administrator for Composition Roofers Local #8. He was also identified as a relative, through marriage, to Frank (Funzi) Tieri , who was identified as the current leader of the Vito Genovese Family.

Callegari was described as a roofer and union member of Local #8, who also served as Crimi’s personal driver and bodyguard.

Police identified Kay as the personal chauffeur and bodyguard to John Cody, who was considered to be a top Gambino Family associate and confidante of boss Carlo Gambino himself. He was also the president of Teamsters Union Local #282, a key union that supplied drivers and workers to the building supply and construction industry.

Detectives made sure to grab Kay off the streets the previous night to prevent him from fleeing the jurisdiction. Authorities said that Bruce Kay was so close to Cody that he had just recently been selected by Cody to become a business agent of Local #282.

Loansharking and Extortion

D.A. Santucci stated that aside from his waterproofing business, Ladenhauf operated as a loanshark and extortionist. In fact, Santucci said that Ladenhauf and Crimi had been close associates and were “partners in an extensive loan-sharking operation involving hundreds of thousands” of dollars they had out on the streets in loans.

At the time of the arrests, Santucci would not discuss details of their connection with the attempt to take over the newly reopened Raneri’s Restaurant, located on Jericho Turnpike in Smithtown. But other police sources did. The newly renovated $500,000 restaurant had opened its doors only six months earlier, in the fall of 1977.

A subsequent investigation revealed that the restaurant’s owner, Peter Ranieri, had been victimized by Genovese capo Pasquale (Paddy Mac) Macchiarole after he borrowed $85,000 in shylock money from Macchiarole, Crimi, and their associates.

A mob mess.

Under questioning, Ranieri later admitted that he borrowed large sums of money from the mobsters and that his life and that of his wife and children had been repeatedly threatened after he fell behind on the $4,000 per week vigorish payments (interest only) he was required to make.

During subsequent interviews with detectives, Ranieri told the authorities that these loanshark payments were picked up weekly by either Crimi or Ladenhauf.

He also revealed to police that as part of the original loan agreement with Macchiarole, he had signed a written contract, agreeing to turn over ownership of the restaurant to Macchiarole if he fell behind on the loans.

Back when detectives searched Ladenhauf’s corpse, they recovered the written contract, later entered into evidence, that stipulated that Crimi and Ladenhauf were to become the restaurant’s new owners if Ranieri defaulted on his payments to them. The agreement also provided for their takeover of the restaurant in the event of his death, even if only one payment remained unpaid on the original debt.

Eight months later, in May 1979 the man charged with having been the actual triggerman in Ladenhauf’s murder would also meet his maker.

Bruce Kay was found shot to death and stuffed into the trunk of a car, which had also been parked in a long-term parking lot. Only this time around, the Genovese crew switched things up a bit. They utilized the parking lot inside nearby LaGuardia Airport in Elmhurst, Queens as Kay’s final resting place

…It appears the Mob felt they needed a bit more housecleaning.

These murders did not end the “Paddy-Whack” carnage. In fact, to the contrary, the blood letting would continue…

Until next time..."The Other Guy!"

Tying Up Loose Ends…More Trunk Music

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You May Also Enjoy

The “Happy” Hood

How the Wiseguys Used to Handle Rodent Problems

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